loping along through the cosmos

28: THE SECOND TARGET IS...

"Do you want to die?!" Jade stormed to JP.

Reverie quickly stood up to follow her as Theodore's smile instantly turned to horror.

"Where the hell did you get a ball?" Reverie asked Theodore, her arm grabbing Jade away from JP simultaneously.

"It was just lying around," he replied, now standing in front JP to shield him from Jade.

"I almost got a concussion back there!" Jade yelled, getting the attention of the other students from afar.

"It wasn't that strong of a blow, was it?" Theodore asked, trying to cover for his best friend, who was still hiding behind him.

Instead of answering, Jade stretched her arm to reach for JP, making Reverie shriek in surprise.

Fortunately, Kieran stepped in, completely in his teacher mode. "What is going on here?!"

"He threw a ball at me!" she told Kieran, fuming.

Since Kieran was in the middle, JP found courage to talk back. "DId it even occur to you to double check if it was really me who threw it? Why did you believe Theodore without even questioning him?"

If Jade was struggling to grab him before, the girl suddenly stood still with JP's question.

Although Kieran found Jade's reaction interesting, he still couldn't understand why there was such a commotion. "Who threw what to her?"

Reverie sighed, although she was still holding Jade's arm to restrain her. "Someone threw a ball at Jade."

Kieran gave the boys a look of disapproval. "Who did it?"

JP and Theodore exchanged glances.

I'm sorry, JP, Theodore thought. I shouldn't have-

"It's me," JP said, eyes closed. "We were playing then my hand slipped so I didn't mean any of it."

Theodore looked at his best friend, completely in awe that JP still helped him.

"Was the impact strong?" Kieran held Jade's head.

"Yeah," she responded.

"Mr. Blackburn here can throw a ball, then," Kieran said absent-mindedly. "That's an advantage."

Jade pulled Kieran's hands away from her head in annoyance. "Enough of this."

Kieran held back a smile. "Let's get you checked with the paramedic that we have."

"I'm not done with you yet, Blackburn," Jade threatened before shifting her gaze to Theodore. "And you too. We'll talk later."

The next thing they knew, the later they were talking about would be when they were playing in the afternoon for snacks.

"The Boat is sinking. Group yourselves into 7!" Oleander shouted.

Haze pulled Theodore with him while the latter pulled Jade. Automatically, Reverie got pulled in with Justin and Ira.

"Atieno, Jen, and Lilith should have played with us," Ira said as their circle broke.

The players who didn't meet the number went back to their group of their own will. Oleander and Alistair laughed as the remaining players folded their newspapers.

"Group yourselves into 6!"

Theodore's hand was quick to grab Jade's just so he could pull her towards him. On the other hand, Justin held Rev's hand instead of Ira's so the person he was supposed to guard stumbled out of the newspaper with Haze. In the end, JP and Jenevieve succeeded in staying inside the newspaper with the others.

"The boat is sinking!" Alistair said through his mic. "Group yourselves into 4!"

This was when Theodore and JP knew what they had to do. After exchanging glances, Theodore pulled Jade while JP chose Jenevieve, leaving Reverie and Justin behind. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, Jenevieve stepped on JP after getting accidentally nudged by Reverie. As a result, 4 players from Theodore's team got out.

Alone on the newspaper and exposed to the crowd, Jade was hyper aware of the hand resting on the small of her back. The first ones were only hand grabbing but this one felt like she was going to be on fire any minute now.

Theodore was looking down at her, hand still on her back. "We lost the game."

The people who lose around them were whining - regretting that they lost balance or were accusing the other that they were in their way. Normally, people who lose react that way. Whiny. Sulky. Regretful.

So, Jade was left confused with what she was seeing.

Because the boy holding her was smiling fondly at her.

"Jade, get back here already!" Reverie's voice distracted the boy from looking at Jade.

"Let go of me." Jade was back to her senses as she pushed Theodore away from her softly.

"I'm not apologizing, just so you know," he said as she walked away. I'm not sorry I kissed you.

"Stop messing with me," she replied, not looking back at him.

"Let's talk before dinner. For real this time. Okay?" he asked, his voice a little louder for her to hear. Jade did a thumbs up as a reply, her back still facing him.

The tree planting was held after eating snacks and a short break.

Their whole group with Penelope was tasked to plant a little further inside the forest with several other group.

Theodore and Atieno were planting on either side of Jade. Justin and Haze were with Ira along with Reverie. JP brought Jenevieve and Lilith with him just so he has someone to talk to as he plants.

"So, it's you two," Jade said, shoving the small plant on the soil she dug. "The ones my grandmother hired."

Behind them, Kieran was hovering over Jade, acting as if he's checking the way she was planting. On the other hand, Fino was standing beside JP, who was kneeling down doing his job in focus.

"Took you a while," Atieno responded, seemingly unbothered that he got caught.

Theodore looked around, checking the surroundings for suspicious individuals.

Around them, men and women from the school helped the students with planting. As a precaution, Kieran told Jade's group to blend with the rest of the students but also maintain a good distance in case some of the students were hired spies.

"Aren't you all done?" Fino finally walked over to where Kieran and Jade were. "If you're done, you lot can go back to the rooms you're assigned to decorate before. Rest before we call you for dinner."

Jade looked up with knitted eyebrows. "Don't pressure us, Mister."

Fino smirked, causing the other students nearby to lose their wits from his visual once again. This kid. "Alright. Take your time."

"I'm done." Jade stood up, brushing dirt from her pants.

Atieno and Theodore immediately followed. "We'll go back with you."

As the three of them walked back to the open field, Kieran shouted behind them. "Run!"

"What?" Jade began to turn around to face him but Theodore was already dragging her to the nearest confined area - the public restroom situated in between the field and the school.

Gunshots after gunshots were heard as they ran, a few bullets missing the two. The bodyguards disguised as students were firing at a running suspect before the latter got taken down with Kieran's bullet.

Amidst the running away of the suspect, someone was lying on the ground, unconscious.